Former Board Chair Lynn Vogel Shares Lessons Learned in ‘Who Knew?’

10.24.2018
Candace Stuart – Director, Communications & Public Relations

Lynn Vogel recognized he had the perfect title for his book “Who Knew? Inside the Complexity of American Health Care,” when the president described healthcare as “unbelievably complicated. Nobody knew that healthcare could be so complicated.” As a founding member of CHIME, former Board chair and a longtime healthcare IT executive, Vogel has been navigating the gnarly terrain of healthcare for more than 35 years. He decided it was time to share the knowledge he gained on that journey to help others better understand the industry.

He had already written several white papers as a founding advisor at Next Wave Health Advisors, now part of the Huntzinger Management Group. His initial goal was to reach early- and mid-stage startup companies that offered healthcare solutions but had a limited understanding of the industry. Some of those papers evolved into full-blown chapters that now make up his first book.

The book explores factors that make healthcare arguably the most complex industry in our economy –including the challenging patient population, the role of physicians, data management and interoperability, security and privacy, national and organizational politics, business models, markets and more. Vogel, whose career includes several academic appointments and CIO positions, used his skills as a researcher and educator to make the book steeped in evidence but not overly technical.   

“I decided to write for a rather diverse audience because I felt that understanding healthcare was a challenge faced by many groups,” Vogel said. “These include CEOs, COOS and CFOs in healthcare organizations. In addition, they include board members, vendors, investors, and politicians who seem to be absolutely clueless about what to do about healthcare. Although it is essential that IT professionals understand just how complex healthcare is, the audience actually became much broader than IT.”  

Vogel spent several years writing “Who Knew,” which he did while continuing his consulting work. “The challenge with these things is that once you get a couple of chapters done, you think maybe there is one other piece that should be included, so you add another chapter. … And then you say here’s another thing that is very important and should be its own chapter. It ended up, with the introduction and conclusion, being 11 chapters.”

The book will be published near the end of November by Productivity Press, which is part of Routledge Taylor Francis Group.  It is available for pre-order from the publisher and on Amazon.